One thousand four hundred eighty. That's how many photos are in my July 2011 folder. You read that correctly, 1480.

Documenting the real life, real essence, real personality of my children's childhoods is incredibly important (and incredibly enjoyable) to me. I simply cannot pull my camera out and take a couple shots. I just can't. Every time I pull it out, hundreds of clicks pass through my hands.

And so I get monthly folders that typically approach a thousand images. I'm starting to feel sorry for whoever has the daunting task of going through all these images later. How on earth can you find anything after the fact? I know I have difficulty now and I'm only four years into this parenting thing! Often times I'll remember a particular image, and then go back to try to find it.... and search and search and search... and get no where. But when ever I go to whittle down my photo repository, I can't delete them. I just can't. Not even bad ones. I'm attached to each and every single shot.

As I've worked on this new awesome project tonight, the 10 on 10, I kept seeing commercials for that Hoarders show on TLC or Discovery. And suddenly it struck me.

i. am. a. hoarder.

Just like those people that we watch and are appalled over due to all the horrible stuff they keep in their homes.... it's just that my hoarding happens to be directed at photo files.... so you won't notice my problem if you happen to stop by unexpectedly to visit. I guess that's a good thing.

about a cool new personal project, the 10 on 10, I couldn't help but pounce on it. What a great way to document the entirety of our day, not just the moments that make me grab the camera. This was inspired by

by Jack and Ruby Studios. And nine other photographers are participating with me!

The long and short of it is, on the 10th of every month, I post 10 images capturing a day in our life. I captured Wednesday July 27, 2011 for this go-round, and tried to shoot about every hour. It was a blast. (and of course, I had a treacherous time trying to narrow it down to just 10!)

"Only miracle is plain; it is the ordinary that groans with the unutterable weight of glory."-Robert Farrar Capon

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,Prone to leave the God I love;Here's my heart,O take and seal it;Seal it for Thy courts above.

I'm a sensitive introvert who finds such beauty in the ordinary, everyday moments in life. I seek light. I'm mesmerized by it. I photograph and share my images in the hopes that you can also be blessed by the beauty I find around me.

I could not be more proud of this kiddo. He spent his day working on google classroom assignments for the snow day, then piano practice, then I told him I was going to shovel the driveway. He joined me. We worked together for a long, long time. He never complained. He didn’t complain that I had the better shovel. He didn’t complain that it was tiresome and boring work. He didn’t complain that his sister wasn’t helping. He didn’t complain when he realized that having a long driveway means it takes a looooooong time to make progress against 14” of snow. He didn’t complain that he hadn’t had a chance to play in the snow yet today. He was in it for the long haul. When I told him to go to the house and tell his sister she needed to unload the dishwasher, he came back with two water bottles for us to drink. (He did complain thAt I made him wear gloves so he wouldn’t get blisters bc ain’t nobody got time for that for basketball games or piano recitals on Sunday!). I have no idea how long we had been at it when Shawn got home from work. He jumped in and we three worked for a while until I realized I wanted a picture to remember this and bailed. I’m so proud of the work ethic of this kid and his character in the midst of it.

Antics.

Light up the night 5k for the second year. The Boy got 2nd in his 10-14 age group. His was around 23:50. The Lady decided yesterday morning that she’d run it, too. So we did. I forgot to take a picture of us before the race though. Or at the race. So in the car while we waited for daddy in a parking lot it is. But I wanted to remember this race we ran together. I told her I wasn’t going to push her. We haven’t been running this fall once the cross country team failed to materialize, so she hasn’t trained at all. I wasn’t going to fight her the whole run. She ran the whole thing pushing ME! She didn’t complain once. She rocked it. even though she didn’t get an age group award I couldn’t be more proud that she chose to go out and do this Instead of sitting and watching. I think her time was around 32:40 which is about 1 min slower than her time last year. Not bad for not training.

We got home from the MS basketball game and I jumped into finishing laundry. I came out to find this scene of homework with The Lady. Then I walked back to check on The Boy and found the same scene. Exactly. We miss the sun.

Last weekend we found ourselves a giant tree.

We weren’t allowed to have cameras or phones out during our horseback riding. (Do you know how much that killed me???) but the super awesome guide dude who started out just in front of The Lady grabbed several shots of the four of us along the way. I was soooooooo thankful!

The whole morning was ‘off.’ I slept too late. I took the dogs out too late. I had to wait forever for the puppy to poop. I woke the kids late. I got The Lady in the shower late. I started cooking breakfast late. They started eating breakfast late. Then I spent their entire breakfast time looking for the cup of coffee that I’d poured before putting The Lady in the shower. I couldn’t find it anywhere.

The whole time I didn't know what to say. The whole time I didn't know whether this was happening for HER or for ME. Was I supposed to DO something with this? Or was I just supposed to be there, to be a calm presence, to listen? Was God trying to speak to my own heart through her words and her wounds? I felt almost panicked, not having time to think through all the options and what the one very right thing to do could be. I wish I could say I chose out of wisdom, but that's not true. I chose out of exasperation. I just tried to listen. To affirm her. To tell her I was sorry. So very sorry that it happened to her and she'd had to live through that.

I saw it the moment she walked in the door that Friday evening. Something was wrong. Not her normal 'I didn't get my way' kind of wrong but a deep, consequential wrong. In a millisecond I had time to think a thousand year's worth of thoughts.